Many people believe that top ranking pages should always be the best targets for link building. However, it is not necessarily true. Of course, there are good benefits from getting links from domains in the top ranks, but doing so is not without its own drawbacks. There are always secret alternatives that you can try. One of these is going with a link intersect strategy which targets sites that rank from a broader range of topics and sites whose rank is not within the pages found on the page one SERPs.
When you try to rank for a certain keyword, it always pays to see things from the perspective of the customers. If you are the customer, the keywords you type in when you make a search do not always generate results that are organic. Some of the links that come up would be paid links. Now, as a marketer or a business owner, those are the domains that you should avoid getting a link from. Those domains would be pretty commercial and they won’t want to link to you. Aside from that, the links you can possibly get from them might not be that valuable, SEO-wise.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Getting Links from the Top 5 Domains
There are various disadvantages and advantages tied to the top domains, so you really need to tread carefully if you want to get some links from them. Of course, these high-ranking domains get tons of real visitors and getting a link from these high-ranking domains will increase your chances of getting more visitors. Because these pages have a huge search volume, your site will always get a lot of visits from THEIR visitors. You can get direct traffic straight from their pages so it’s really a great link to have.
Aside from traffic, Google also places trust and authority on the pages of these sites. Because of their rank, you can tell that Google is announcing to the world that these sites have relevant content and are to be trusted. While these benefits are awesome and true, they make the SEO and link builder feel biased towards what type of sites they should be aiming to get links from.
There are also disadvantages that you can get when you try to get a link from pages and domains that rank highly on the SERPs. One of these disadvantages is that their rank is not a guarantee of quality. While it’s true that having a high rank is a guarantee of Google’s trust and the site’s authority, it still does not directly mean that Google is saying that these sites provide the best links. You can think of it like this: Google believes that the page can provide a solution for the user’s queries, but they are not saying that the page will be a good link provider for you. Of course, if you can get a link from that page or domain, there is a chance that you can rank for your target keyword. However, nothing is guaranteed.
Getting a link from these pages will also have a potentially negative impact on your business because Google expects high ranking pages to provide the solution to queries on the page itself, not on another page linked to that page. Earning links from these high-ranking pages is also going to be tough. You have to think about the competition. If the keywords you are ranking for are similar, and you are in a similar business, it’s less likely that these high-authority pages will ever give you a link. After all, if you were in their shoes, you probably wouldn’t either. Why would you help a competitor rank, and possibly outrank you?
What Are Your Alternatives?
- Sites and Pages with Links To Many high-Ranking Targets
Instead of aiming for sites that are in the first, third and fourth ranks on the SERPs, you can look for a site that carries links to these three. This site with many good links will obviously be a relevant resource. These types of pages are logically better options because they are more powerful when it comes to ranking authority than the pages that are already ranking. - Sites and Pages That Are Ranking for Broader Topics and Keywords Related to Your Business
You should also look for sites that are ranking for many other keywords that are related to your topic. For instance, if you are looking to rank for ‘wooden table’, you should look for sites that are ranking for interior design, interior design events, home decoration and more. These sites are more likely to give you a link and they also provide a lot of value because they cover a wide range of topics and keywords. - Influential domains that are not focusing on their keywords and SEO
There are many influential publications and resources out there that are not paying much attention to their SEO and keyword targeting strategies. While they are influential, it’ll be hard to find them using Google. They’re usually not on the first page of the SERP. However, they will surely have a lot of readers and engagement on their social media pages. If these types of publications will provide you a link, Google will identify you as a website that should potentially rank. This is because Google can surely determine that these sites are important!
As you can see, there are many more link providers that you can go for which can potentially help you rank for your target keywords. Compared to the typical notion of aiming for the high-ranking pages, these alternatives will work great for your link-building campaign and they are also great because they won’t cost you as much in terms of time and effort.
